BBQ Grill project

[Inor]

I was thinking about picking up a temperature controller for my Big Green Egg. But, they are crazy expensive ($450) and some of the reviews I have read on them leave me a little skeptical about how well they work or even IF they work.

https://www.amazon.com/BBQ-Guru-DigiQ-DX2-Green/dp/B006NZUN8A/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1467751595&sr=8-2&keywords=Controller+big+green+egg

Fast forward to yesterday. I was farting around with some temperature sensors and relays on my Raspberry Pi and came up with the idea of just building my own BBQ controller. In doing some research on the parts that I would need to build it, I discovered there is already a fairly large group of geeks that had the same idea and already have put together a prepackaged kit for it including the software!

http://heatermeter.myshopify.com/products/heatermeter-v4-2-kit?variant=1181580851

Since we are going to have a few months after we move in mid-August before the new house is far enough along for us to start working on it, I was toying with the idea of maybe taking this up for a small project.

[hawgrider]

Slicker than snot. Looking forward to the project.

[Arklatex]

Big-green-Egghead!

Sorry couldn't resist. The stuff that comes out for these things never ceases to amaze me. A coworker of mine has a WiFi temp gauge on his egg. If the temp goes above or below what he sets it for it send him a text message! Friggin high tech bbq! Good luck with your project.

[RubberDuck]

should be a fun build.
I was on the fence of buying a bbq guru it's a fire management unit starting about $300 an up from there.
But I have a lot of fun baby sitting my cooker with alcohol so decided against it.

[Slippy]

Excellent Inor!

While the world has done gone crazy there be some neat stuff out there!

[Inor]

Excellent Inor!

While the world has done gone crazy there be some neat stuff out there!

You know me... When I get stressed out, I look around for something to build. Since I will not have access to my wood shop for a while so I can finish my dining room chairs, this looks like it will fit the bill for an interesting project that does not take up much space and give me a cool gadget to play with when I am done.

[TJC44]

I'm guessing you're looking at controlling the air temperature inside the Egg, and using the blower to do that.
How much more would it be for food grade temp probes, so you know when the meat is done. I'm sure the Pi could handle that too.

[Inor]

I'm guessing you're looking at controlling the air temperature inside the Egg, and using the blower to do that.
How much more would it be for food grade temp probes, so you know when the meat is done. I'm sure the Pi could handle that too.

The setup includes jacks for up to 4 temperature probes. One of them is for the food. From going over their controller software, it looks like when you set the target temp of the food, it e-mails you when the food is ready. So, I think I will be making some modifications to the software so it will just sound an alarm or maybe send a text message. But it is all open source (software and hardware) so modifying it the way I want should not be a big deal.

I've never done much on the hardware side, so this should be interesting.

[Deebo]

Hmm, sounds like a gadget I had in mind. I'll pm you.

[TJC44]

The setup include jacks for up to 4 temperature probes. One of them is for the food. From going over their controller software, it looks like when you set the target temp of the food, it e-mails you when the food is ready. So, I think I will be making some modifications to the software so it will just sound an alarm or maybe send a text message. But it is all open source (software and hardware) so modifying it the way I want should not be a big deal.

I've never done much on the hardware side, so this should be interesting.

How are your soldering skills? :flamer:

[Inor]

How are your soldering skills? :flamer:

HAHAHA!!! I'll let you know once I start. :biglaugh:

It has been MANY years since I soldered electronics. But I did do some leaded glass for a woodworking project a few years back and did okay.

2481

[Inor]

I ordered the kit for my BBQ controller about 3-4 weeks ago. Of course the kit came immediately, but the solder, soldering iron, tip cleaner and other stuff I ordered from Amazon all went to our old address. To make matters worse, they all came from different vendors. So it did not all converge on our new address until early last week and of course, I was out of town.

Anyway, I finally started the build today. With me being gone for the last 2 weeks, we had a bunch of busy-work crap to get done this morning, so I did not get to start on it until about 3 this afternoon. But given it was a gorgeous day in Arizona, high in the 80's with a perfect Crayola blue sky, I thought I would setup outside under our patio table with an umbrella. No sooner had I gotten everything setup perfectly, than the 4 PM winds kicked up (like they do every single day) and blew my parts all over the back yard. But between Mrs Inor and me I think we were able to scavenge everything and I moved indoors to our spare bedroom for the build.

(To be accurate, I am not really building anything. I am assembling a build that was created by a guy named Bryan Mayland, who is a great guy BTW, for his home based business called Heater Meter. But I have spent the intervening weeks studying his documentation in detail and I am pretty sure I understand both his hardware and software designs. Both are open source and available for free, but I strongly suggest if you want to do this build, buy his kit.)

Anyway, I only spent about an hour this afternoon working on it, but am thoroughly enjoying the process. Hopefully it will turn out and actuall work. Here is what it looks like thus far:

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Here are a few of my initial impressions thus far:

1 - Electronics, even for hobbyist kits like this, are REALLY REALLY small. For a sense of how small, here is the same image with a dollar bill as a background:

2710

2 - Resisters and capacitors, working in the 3.3V and 5V range are even smaller.

3 - My old eyes really suck! When I got my last glasses, about a year ago, they told me I needed bifocals (which I have had for about 10 years) AND a separate set of "computer glasses". The "computer glasses" suck for computer work, but they were just the trick for this.

4 - The lighting in our spare bedroom sucks! The only way I could see the colors of the bands on the resistors was to employ a big ol' Mag Light flashlight.

5 - It is not a good plan to try and solder very small connections after you have drunk 3 pots of coffee and had a couple Cokes.

6 - Soldering electronics is easier than soldering leaded glass, because it does not need to look pretty.

This is a fun as hell project and I will keep ya'll informed on how/if it works out. I did also start some modifications on the software/firmware while I was in Boston last week. So at least I am getting to exercise some creative license.

[Arklatex]

Pretty cool project, reminds of Legos, but for adults. What is it gonna do besides text your when your temp gets right?

[Inor]

It's primary job is to maintain the temp of pit for doing low and slow burns. It has a temperature probe that goes in the grill. If the grill temp is too low it will turn on a fan to give more air to the coals. If the temp is too high, it will restrict the air to bring the temp back down. It is also going to have 3 additional temperature probes to track the temp of the food. Since it will also be connected to my wireless network, I can basically make it do anything else I want.

[RubberDuck]

This is a perfect build.
far beyond my capabilities I have been eyeballing the bbq guru for sometime cost is holding me back

[Inor]

The main board is done except for two female jacks that go on the top. (All of the components are actually mounted on the bottom of the board.) Next I have to build the controller board with the LCD screen and the controller buttons. I am going to wait to install the jacks on the main board until I get the pins installed on the controller. Then we can mate the whole thing with a Raspberry Pi and boot it up and see what happens.

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag23/InorTheBloody/20161006_162928_zpsmpixajkr.jpg

And for TJC44 (and any of the rest of you that care to comment) who wanted to inspect my solder job:

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag23/InorTheBloody/20161006_163520_zpstkj4aq2x.jpg

I think I did okay for a rookie, but we'll find out when I plug it in.

[juskom95]

Looks neat, I am waiting to hear how it works 'in the field'

[Inor]

Looks neat, I am waiting to hear how it works 'in the field'

At this stage of the game, I am more concerned with "if" it works in the field. :biglaugh: I'll post more updates as I start on the next steps.

[Inor]

Here is the completed unit:

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag23/InorTheBloody/20161009_104311_zps9atktkvy.jpg

And with its case:

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag23/InorTheBloody/20161009_104655_zpsmoyrfgld.jpg

All that is left is to build an operating system for it that will work with the Raspberry Pi version 3. (The OS provided only works with the Pi version B and Pi Zero.) But that shouldn't be too bad though once I get the build environment set up.

[Inor]

The Operating System is built as is the firmware for the Arduino chip. Everything installed without issue. I brought it up on my network in hardwired mode and setup the wireless so now I can see it from my laptop. I am still waiting on the K-style probe from Amazon so I can set it up and test it with a real fire. But so far, everything is working perfectly!

[Inor]

The temperature probes came today and I had my first "ah shit" moment with the project. I took it in my office, plugged in the pit probe and fired it up and it promptly booted up and reported my office was 604 degrees! I never realized it, but there are a buttload of variables even with something as simple as a temperature probe. I went to the manufacturer's website for the probes and was able to find the specs to allow me to adjust the firmware in the Arduino chip to get it within a degree or two of being accurate. In the next few days I will boil a pot of water and get it perfect. But here it is in action:

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag23/InorTheBloody/20161011_184115_zpsflydzk21.jpg

So everything on it is tested and works except for testing the fan, even the open lid detection. If the temp is more than 6% below what the "set temp" is and does not rise for 4 minutes, the device assumes the BBQ lid is open and shuts off the fan motor. That is the countdown you see in the upper-right of the LCD.

All I have left to do is make a cable to plug the fan in and get a piece of aluminum and make a plate to be able to mount it on the air vent of the Egg.

Here is what it looks like when I log into it from my laptop:

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag23/InorTheBloody/Screen%20Shot%202016-10-11%20at%207.03.28%20PM_zpsgbcs3yuw.png

I have to say, this project is turning out better than I expected. I have never done this before and I fully expected it would be one of those projects that "sort of" worked, but never well enough to actually use. Even if the fan does not work (or does not work as well as I hope), this is still going to be a valuable addition to the BBQ Pit Toolbox.

[Inor]

Tonight is the maiden voyage with my new BBQ pit controller! So far, so good. I am doing a test burn for at least an hour before I put the meat on to see how it performs. But so far I have only had to make one small adjustment to the main pit probe.

Here is the screencast so far:

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag23/InorTheBloody/Screen%20Shot%202016-10-16%20at%204.41.45%20PM_zpsrcmmfjyq.png

Update: It just reached the target temp and the fan shut off as it should.

So far, everything is working as planned!

[hawgrider]

What is the test meat?

[Inor]

What is the test meat?

Just some cheap pork chops. I am going to test it well with cheap crap before I try a $150 prime rib or something. :biglaugh:

Update: It did shut the fan down and everything seems to be working as I planned, but the pit temp did continue to rise about 20 degrees beyond the target temp. I think that is because more charcoal started to burn before the fan shut off and it is taking some time for that to drop off. I may have to shut the fan a little earlier than I planned.

[Inor]

Here it is in all its glory. I have a probe in each pork chop, plus the pit probe and still have one open jack. As you can see, the fan needs to be adjusted to start slowing down more as I reach the target temp because it is still running about 10 degrees hot. But I am pretty dang happy with this project!

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag23/InorTheBloody/Screen%20Shot%202016-10-16%20at%205.44.16%20PM_zpsnnqpvdrn.png

[Arklatex]

Very cool. Gotta love outside the box thinking. Please don't give any of your future robotic builds any guns. For the sake of humanity...

[MrsInor]

The egg looks like it is on life support with all the wires.

[Inor]

Yeah, yeah, yeah...

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag23/InorTheBloody/20161016_173628_zpsqcvcpdiq.jpg

Here is the fan:

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag23/InorTheBloody/20161016_163738_zpsvlmsx4dq.jpg

And the finished product:

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag23/InorTheBloody/20161016_193322_zpspxgae6bx.jpg

[RubberDuck]

so what is your final cost not including your time to build?
Looks like with some fine tuning you have a winner nice job.

[Inor]

so what is your final cost not including your time to build?
Looks like with some fine tuning you have a winner nice job.

The kit was about $110. I had the Raspberry Pi and the 12v power supply. I did buy new probes for it and that was around $40, but I could have saved some of that and reused the meat probes I had from my other thermometers. Finally, I had about $10 for a piece of aluminum, some screws and a tube of silicon for mounting the fan. So the grand total was about $160.

[RubberDuck]

You are still about half price of the guru an you can say you built it.